Early Halo 3 Players Getting Banned?

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While some retailers are apparently breaking the street date for the hugely anticipated Halo 3, they won’t be able to enjoy the experience for very long.

According to various reports, anyone playing their copy of Halo 3 before the September 25th street date will be banned from Xbox Live by Microsoft.  Even playing the game offline doesn’t circumvent the banning, as the system detects the person’s playing habits and still initiates the ban as soon as the Xbox 360 console reconnects to Xbox Live.

The Halo 3 game has leaked through various sources, including eBay, retail stores that have ignored the street date, and retailer Argos , who allowed copies of the game to be sold due to “a genuine administrative error” which has since been corrected.

[Update] Microsoft has apparently retracted the statement and said that the ban only applies to Microsoft employees that play Halo 3 early.  We’ll keep you posted as the story develops.